Hi Everyone, I'm new to this forum but I've been following it for more than 2 years now and found most of my research answers here.

I'm the proud owner of a '94 Toyota Hilux Surf SSRG that I done a 1UZ (sourced from a '96 Toyota Crown) conversion on and have not come to regret it after 14500 gloriuos kilometers.

When I moved back to SA from Mozambique where I also bought the Surf, I decided to keep it for the love of this vehicle, unfortunately I'm now forced to sell it urgently to fund my new business here in Gordon's Bay

In my next post I'll go more into details on the Surf itself.

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Last edited by AutoWall on Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

When I bought it, it had 114000km on the clock and it was standing in a workshop where the mechanics could not get it running after overhauling the engine, I towed it home and it took me about a month to figure out that the diesel pump and ECU was faulty, after sorting it out I used it on a daily basis as well as a couple of long distance visits to SA and of coarse frequent visits to rural areas and the beaches in Mozambique which pushed the mileage up to 130000km, then the motor packed up due to a loss of oil pressure (thanks to previous bad workmanship and parts) which turned out to be the end of the diesel motor, after wasting more than R30k on it trying to revive it twice in a row) I gave up and decided to do the V8 conversion on it.

I bought the motor with automatic gearbox and original ECU from Lextreme in Pretoria who also done the complete electrical harness, before loading the motor they started it on the floor for me. I then imported the motor to Moz and started the conversion at home.

The conversion was actually quite easy as it was Toyota on to Toyota which meant that most things were just a matter of bolt on, I’m not going to go much into detail on the entire build at this time but I’ll tell you about the things I had to change or alter to make it fit and work great

Change the engine mounting positions on the chassis
Slightly shift the hand brake position to clear some room in the engine compartment
Remove the tailpiece from the V8 gearbox and shorten the output driveshaft to accommodate the speedo mechanism and 4x4 transfer case from the Surf which was just a matter of bolt on with no adapters or serious modifications
Modify the sump on the engine in order to fit over the steering links
Re-position the steering damper
Convert the Diesel tank to a Petrol tank with an internal high pressure fuel pump for the V8’s fuel injection system
Completely remove the Diesel ECU and all the unneeded wires then install the new ECU and tap in on the Surf’s wiring to make all things work
From there it was just a matter of some plumbing for the power steering and Aircon unit which now sit in opposite sides from the diesel and having a new exhaust system installed, everything else was basically just bolt back on.

This is the short version of the build and you can take it to any mechanic with a diagnostic system as everything is basically original the only difference is that the motor and gearbox is a 1UZ-FE from a 1996 Toyota Crown and every thing else is the original 1994 Toyota Hilux Surf SSRG.

It’s an excellent 4x4 and towing vehicle, great fun to drive and you get 2x the power compared to the original 3.0 KZTE diesel, it has no rust and is accident free, the paintwork is scratched from trees and brushes while doing off road time in Mozambique (loads of fun times!)

There is still however a few things on the car that could use some attention like the lower control arm bushes needs replacement, the steering box has a bit of play, the RH front inner CV joint is warn thanks to a torn boot that I noticed too late, the front (original Recaro) bucket seats are also warn trough on the side from getting in and out of the vehicle, these things does come with the age of the vehicle but I’d gladly get in and go anywhere without being worried about these things yet.

In December I also installed a new High pressure fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator to better fuel consumption, I now get just over 6km/l in town and I expect to get more that 8km/l on open road (not yet tested)

Last but not least is the paperwork, It is still registered in Mozambique as I did not yet have the funds to sort it out or purchase a locally registered donor Surf/DC for the transplant and re-register.

This car is an absolute bundle of joy and I'll most certainly build another one without hesitation once my business is up and running.

PS: should anyone be interested in buying this car as either a donor vehicle or to sort out and enjoy, please don't hesitate to contact me (more photo's available!)

Why don't you import the vehicle into ZA and sell it like that as opposed to "breaking it up", if you know what I mean.As a returning citizen, you should be allowed to import it into ZA if I recall correctly.

I could but my problem is time and money at this point, and if I did import it, I wouldn't even consider selling it but I'm definitely going to build another one as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
I might have a buyer from Moz though, by tomorrow I'll know for sure
If the deal goes through I'll most certainly enjoy every one of the 2200km from here to there with it!
actually can't really wait for the trip as it's such a pleasure to drive.

Long sad story short, I took the Surf to Mozambique the weekend and got it sold to a Mozambican guy but I can at least now focus on what I needed the money for.

PS: I must add that I did enjoy every one of the last 2200km with it and got an average of 8.53km/l on the trip and my foot started to get heavier the closer I got to Moz (great fun! especially going through Schoemans Kloof)